U.S. to face Norway Sunday for title after blanking Denmark 3-0.

FJOLNIS, Iceland (Friday, August 6, 1999) -- The United States under-21 women used goals by
Raven McDonald, Jenny Streiffer and Susan Bush to
blank Denmark today to earn a spot in the Nordic Cup championship match.

The U.S. will face Norway in Sunday’s title match, the third straight year the two nations
have met to decide the championship. The Americans won in 1997 on Streiffer’s 100th-minute goal;
Norway prevailed last year 2-1.

The U.S. (3-0, 9 points, plus-11 goal differential) was in good position to advance before
stepping on the field, needing only a victory, tie or even a one-goal loss to win Group 2.

"It was a great team win," said U.S. coach Lauren
Gregg. "Our team is evolving every time we step on the field and is committed to being the
best. Once again, we had significant contribution from all the players, including the subs.
This team effort has been a consistent theme and critical to our success."

With time winding down in the first half, Danielle Slaton (San Jose, Calif.) hit a free kick
from just outside the penalty box on the left side. Slaton's low liner was dummied by Lauren
Orlandos (Lake Forest, Calif.) and skimmed across the turf to McDonald, who slotted her shot
into the right corner from five yards out.

The U.S. went up 2-0 in the 62d minute when Streiffer (Baton Rouge, La.) netted a rebound
from three yards after Meredith Florance's (Dallas) shot from 10 yards out hit off the back of a
defender and squirted to Streiffer’s feet.

"It's nice that the pressure of the first round is off of us," Streiffer said. "Now we only
have one game to focus on. Norway is always a challenge that we look forward to and we're glad
to have the opportunity to reclaim the championship from the team we lost to last year."

Bush (Houston), who suffered a strained right knee during pre-Nordic Cup training camp, saw
her first action of the tournament when she replaced Florance in the 77th minute. Eight minutes
later, Aly Wagner (San Jose, Calif.) lobbed a
cross from the left wing that Danish goalkeeper Tina Cederkvist misjudged. She let the hanging
cross bounce under her to Bush, who ran onto the ball, took a touch around the keeper and shot
into the open net from close range.

"My objectives with this team are to win the tournament, establish a winning tradition at all
levels and develop players for the full national team while instilling the necessary training
habits in our next national team players," Gregg said. "I couldn't be more pleased with the
investment by this group of young women to all of these goals."

A win in the Nordic Cup final would complete an unprecedented "triple" for the U.S. women
following the Women’s World Cup victory and the under-18s 1-0 victory over Mexico yesterday to
take the first Pan American Games women’s soccer gold medal.

Norway needed to come from behind to beat Australia 3-1 to place first in Group 1. In Group
2, Germany and Finland tied 2-2. In Group 1, Sweden defeated Iceland 1-0.

Finland will face Sweden for third place, Iceland plays Denmark for fifth and Australia takes
on Germany for seventh.